Friday, November 12, 2010

This argument isn't lost

Meanwhile, I won't worry about criticizing the Libs for giving Stephen Harper yet another free pass on Afghanistan since their supporters are doingagreatjob already. But I will follow up on one of the points made by BCL:

(I)f Iggy wants to support an extension of Canada's Afghanistan mission to 2014, he should have to get up in the HOC, hold hands with Prime Minister Harper, and explain the whys and wherefores behind this Lib./Tory coalition. Lets face it, he's been a crap leader of the opposition. If Dion couldn't explain himself in English, then with Iggy the problem is that when he explains himself it just makes you think he's an enormous dick. Nobody owes him any deference. And he owes the country a better performance.

So, lets have a debate in the HOC. And remember the debate around the Long Gun Registry; the LPoC brain trust eventually came around. This argument isn't lost.

And the last point is particularly important in context. While the Cons will surely try to portray Harper's musings as irrevocably committing troops for three more years, the fact is that there's plenty of time for an election and a change of government before the end of 2011 to actually meet the end date that he's discarded. And with Harper having made it clear that he has no qualms ignoring a supposedly binding agreement and motion to bring our troops home, there's less reason than ever to think we should consider them trapped for as long as Harper has promised to mire them in Afghanistan.